Nachos. Literally, what else can I say? You can top yours with anything you want but this pile is epic. Starting from the bottom, here’s what I’ve got:
Oil free corn chips (sliced and baked corn tortillas)
Cheeze sauce (See recipe below)
Black beans
Mole sauce
Lime massaged kale
Chopped cilantro
Guacamole
Red onions
Scallions
Chives
Cashew sour cream
It’s kind of an epic platter of plant based goodness!
Let’s talk about the cheeze sauce, the star of this post. It’s brilliant. I have seen recipes for queso/nacho style cheese sauce made with potatoes and carrots for years but I never jumped on that bandwagon. Well that was a mistake. This stuff is brilliant and works really well with Mexican style food as well as a mac ‘n cheese sauce.
What really turned it around for me was the explanation in the Vegan for Everybody by America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) cookbook for Nacho Dip (recipe reprinted below). This is what it says:
“…we had a revelation when we broke a cardinal kitchen rule: We whirred boiled potatoes in the blender at high speed to release as much gummy, gluey starch as possible. While this would make the most unappealing mashed potatoes, the sticky mixture was the ideal base for a cheese-like sauce with stretch. We blended in a few other key ingredients—carrot for a hint of sweetness and a color, nutritional yeast for funky depth, and a bit of vegetable oil for richness and fluidity—and ended up with a sauce with a pleasing orange color, mildly earthy flavor, and ultra creamy texture….”
Here is my recipe. Note that it stores and reheats really well on the stovetop with a little water.
Loaded Nacho Supreme with Potato & Carrot Cheeze Sauce
Ingredients
Nacho Cheeze Sauce
- 1 big Russet potato
- 1 small to medium carrot
- 1/4 whole white onion
- water for boiling
- 2 rounded tbsp nooch
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1/2 tsp each: dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and salt
Nacho Dip from ATK
- 12 oz russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 small carrot peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1.5 tsp distilled white vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/3 cup minced poblano chile
- 1 whole garlic clove minced
- 1/2 tsp canned chipotle chili in adobo sauce minced
- 1/8 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp mustard powder
Instructions
Nacho Cheeze Sauce
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Add the potatoes, carrots and onions to a pot. Cover with water and boil until everything is soft.
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Reserve a 1/4 cup of the boiling water and drain the rest. Add the vegetables back to the pot to cool off for a bit.
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Add the cooked vegetables to the Vitamix and add nooch, oil, vinegar, and seasonings. Process until creamy. In the Vitamix, this will take less than a minute. If it seems to thick, add some of the reserved cooking liquid.
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Use immediately or store. When ready to reheat, add a little water to thin it out. Enjoy!
Nacho Dip by ATK
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Bring 2 quarts water to boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Add potatoes and carrot and cook until tender, about 12 minutes; drain in a colander.
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Combine cooked vegetables, ⅓ cup water, 2 tablespoons oil, nutritional yeast, vinegar, and salt in a blender. Pulse until chopped and combined, about 10 pulses, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed. (You will need to stop processing to scrape down sides of blender jar several times for mixture to come together.) Process mixture on high speed until very smooth, about 2 minutes.
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Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a now-empty saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and poblano and cook until softened and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, chipotle, cumin, and mustard and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds; remove from heat.
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Stir processed potato mixture into onion-poblano mixture in saucepan and bring to a brief simmer over medium heat to heat through. Transfer to a bowl and serve immediately.
